A cleverly planned yard can lower the maintenance requirements. The following ingenious landscaping ideas can keep your Concord, NH, property looking beautiful with little to no maintenance necessary.
Plant a Bee and Butterfly Garden
There is something special about looking into the yard and seeing butterflies and hummingbirds flitting around from plant to plant. To attract bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds, there are three important steps that, once done, can bring these beneficial creatures to your yard.
First, choose pollen and nectar rich plants such as wildflowers, bee balm, cosmos, and milkweed for food sources. Second, they need water to feel at home. A birdbath would work well to supply water, but you may want to take that idea up a notch: Installing a water feature in the landscape would supply water for the small creatures and relaxing sounds for you. Last, they need a place to stay safe from predators, so planting bushes, hedges, and scattering nesting boxes around the garden gives them a place to rest and reproduce.
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Install a Rock Garden
A rock garden can be the ultimate low-maintenance landscape idea. With rocks of multiple sizes and colors, a rock garden is a feast to the eyes alone. But add heat and drought tolerant plants, and you have a garden that needs almost no care. Creeping vines and flowering groundcover would add interest and texture to a rock garden. Because this type of garden needs very little attention, it also reduces the amount of watering required to keep your landscape healthy and thriving. An added bonus is the help with erosion that the rocks provide. If you choose to add some low-level lighting to your rock garden, it will be majestic at night.
Crushed Stone and Pebbles
Using crushed stone for walkways or in place of mulch around shrubs and plants is another way to keep the upkeep at a minimum. With so many colors and sizes of crushed stone and pebbles available, it would be easy to find the ideal stone to complement your home and yard. And, by choosing plants that are native to your region, you will further reduce the amount of water needed to maintain a pleasing but easy landscape.
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Establish Specific Areas
Whether your yard is large or small, bringing definition to certain areas would help to minimize big swaths of grass that need mowing. A wood deck adjoining the house that is low to the ground can be a perfect spot for an outdoor bar and drink area. On those warm, sunny days when everyone wants to be outside, you can have cold drinks handy to beat the heat.
Just a step down from the deck can be a patio area where guests can chat and eat together, while you barbeque some burgers nearby. Connected to the patio, separated by a step or two higher, can be a pergola with after dinner seating. A pergola is a wonderful addition to a landscape because it provides just the right amount of shade without hindering the breeze. Border your entertainment area with heat-tolerant plantings such phlox, lilacs, and holliesto heighten the greenery in your landscape.
